Dawnguard™ is the first official game add-on for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim® - the 2011 Game of the Year. The Vampire Lord Harkon has returned to power. By using the Elder Scrolls, he seeks to do the unthinkable - to end the sun itself. Will you join the ancient order of the Dawnguard and stop him? Or will you become a Vampire Lord yourself? Featuring an all new faction questline and locations, the ultimate choice will be yours.

Got to play the beta and I have been enjoying it quite a bit. It's a lot better and larger than some of the previews had me thinking. The main quest is also not quite the binary "chose rail A or B" proposition I assumed it would be. Your choices matter and the obviously big choices do have consequences, but it isn't really analogous to choosing between the storm-cloaks and imperials in that there's more to decide when you proceed past choosing your stripes.

I won't give any specifics though or say much beyond that though since a lot of the things they've left out in descriptions and interviews so far are a lot cooler to find on your own. Glad they undersold some aspects of it at least, made it more enjoyable for not knowing.

I'm torn on that too, Lucky. $20 is kinda high when the base game was only $60. I'm not sure I can wait though because I'm pretty much a Bethesda fanboi. While I spend $20 for a decent steak that's gone in 30 minutes, I still wanna grumble about paying for games

Originally Posted by crpgnut
I'm torn on that too, Lucky. $20 is kinda high when the base game was only $60. I'm not sure I can wait though because I'm pretty much a Bethesda fanboi. While I spend $20 for a decent steak that's gone in 30 minutes, I still wanna grumble about paying for games

It's a little different compared with the DLC for a more linear game, like Mass Effect, where you get a pop up message and go do some mission, find a new companion, and then it's over in a few hours.

I'd say for most of us, a typical Skyrim playthrough lasts around 100-200 hours. Dawnguard adds a lot of new features and it's integrated seamlessly with this massive game world. Personally, Dawnguard makes me excited about going back and doing two more complete playthroughs, one siding with the Dawnguard and another joining the Volkihar faction.

With the new quests ranging anywhere from, say 20-30 hours, if I play the entire game twice more, that results in at least a few hundred hours of additional entertainment. Without Dawnguard, I probably wouldn't have done those two new playthroughs, unless there are some great quest mods in the future.

And who knows, I'll probably end up doing a third playthrough as a werewolf, given the new perk tree.

Considering all the thousands of free mods made available to us, including many quest mods and new gameplay features, dozens of which I've personally installed and enjoyed, I certainly don't mind kicking another $20 their way out of gratitude for the mods and Creation Kit alone. In fact, I've already played their game around 800 hours total since November.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
I'll give my 20 bucks to an indie maker instead. Favour the crappy consoles, and reap what you sow. If I still lived in Maryland, I'd be at their offices in person.

-Carn

You mean to say, you'd be at their offices to complain about the 30-day Xbox window? You are that eager to play Dawnguard as soon as possible? I imagine Microsoft paid a lot of money for that window and helped cover the marketing costs.

In my case, I don't mind waiting a bit longer, as I still haven't even completed most of the major faction quests like Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, or the College of Winterhold, and recently started a new playthrough with a lot of cool mods.

Originally Posted by CountChocula
Considering all the thousands of free mods made available to us, including many quest mods and new gameplay features, dozens of which I've personally installed and enjoyed, I certainly don't mind kicking another $20 their way out of gratitude for the mods and Creation Kit alone. In fact, I've already played their game around 800 hours total since November.

You pretty much summed up my feelings for TES games. I too spend many many hours for every playthrough, exploring every nook and cranny, reading books Et cetera.. No other game gives me a better bang for my buck and I got no problem spending another 20$ for something that essentially(for me at least)multiplies the fun and the hours played in this huge world.

Jeeze people, you complain about DLC being so short, and then when a real expansion comes out that costs the same amount expansions always used to cost you bitch. Sounds like you've all become trained to accept that any expansion of the game is a short DLC that should cost 5 bucks…

Aside from that, yeah it sucks that they're favoring Xbox first, but I'm busy finishing up The Witcher anyway, so I can wait

I remember paying 30 bucks or more for expansions back in the days, and they were usually about 10-20 hours. The price is perfectly fine for a full blown expansion. It would've been daylight robbery if it had offered BioWare DLC style amount of content, but this is more comparable to Throne of Bhaal or TotSC than ME2: Arrival.

Anyway, I'll grab it the next time I decide to play through Skyrim. That probably won't happen during the summer though, unless BG EE is pushed back.